JP2011037183A - Curing reaction apparatus and curing method of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that on curing photo-curing type liquid droplets, for example, on curing an ultraviolet ray curing type ink, long curing time is required caused by the shadows made by pigments or the like, and on the other hand, when the pigments are moved by vibration, permeation or spreading of an ink is generated and the diameter and position of the impacting ink are hardly controlled. <P>SOLUTION: A curing reaction apparatus cures a surface layer by irradiating the impacting ink with ultraviolet rays in a curing reaction mode 1, keeps irradiation of the impacting ink with the ultraviolet rays in a successive curing reaction mode 2, and furthermore, gives a vibration to the impacting ink by a vibrator 13. Thereby, by moving the shadows caused by the pigment and making the irradiated rays reach uniformly to an uncured deep part, the photopolymerization is accelerated to accelerate a complete curing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a curing reaction apparatus that cures an electromagnetic wave curing type liquid landed on a medium, and a curing method thereof.

  In general, an ink jet technique for recording various characters and images by landing ink droplets on a medium to be recorded can be constructed with a relatively simple configuration, and is currently used in various fields. The medium can be applied not only to recording paper but also to a medium made of a material such as resin, metal and glass.

  Among such techniques, there is an ink jet technique using a photo-curing type ink that is cured by ultraviolet light. In this method, an ink layer of a desired image is formed by landing ink droplets that are cured by ultraviolet light on a medium from an inkjet head. Thereafter, the ink layer is cured by being irradiated with ultraviolet light from an ultraviolet light source.

  According to this technology, even a medium that does not absorb ink can be cured after landing and fixed on the medium, so that restrictions on the combination of ink and medium are reduced, and various materials and various forms of media Can be applied to. Furthermore, since the ink is a photo-curing reaction type, there are fewer problems such as irritating odors as compared to the conventional curing reaction by volatilization of the solvent. Due to such advantages, as proposed in Patent Document 1 and the like, in recent years, inkjet technology using a photo-curing type ink has attracted attention.

JP 2008-296419 A Japanese Patent No. 3353998 Japanese Patent No. 4127810

  When curing the above-mentioned photo-curing type ink, it usually takes a long time such as several seconds to several tens of seconds, although it depends on the amount of landed ink. A general ink spreading time, that is, an ink permeation time, including an oil-based or water-based or photo-curing type, that is, an ink permeation time is usually considered to be about several ms to several hundred ms. In the ink with high fluidity, if the order of the curing time is too long for the penetration time, the penetration or spreading of the ink continues until the curing (or fixing), so the size of the landing surface (dots) (Diameter) becomes difficult to control. In particular, when a landing medium in which the ink does not easily permeate is used or when the volume of the ink droplet is large, the tendency is remarkable. One reason that it takes time for photocuring is that the pigment contained in the ink that has landed on the medium blocks the ultraviolet light irradiated to cause a shadow, and the shadow is not irradiated with the ultraviolet light. Therefore, even if the irradiation amount of ultraviolet light is simply increased, it is not possible to reduce the time corresponding to the irradiation amount.

  On the other hand, in order to accelerate curing for such a problem, when ultrasonic vibration is applied to the ink that has penetrated or landed on the medium, the pigment in the ink is swung, It is considered that the shadow portion due to the pigment fluctuates, and the ultraviolet light reaches the inside of the ink, so that curing can be promoted more efficiently.

However, depending on the material of the medium, such ultrasonic vibration works to further promote penetration before the ink is cured (or fixed). That is, before the landed ink is fixed at the landed position, it moves to the surroundings due to vibration, and does not fix at the originally desired landed position, or the ink dots expand beyond the desired size. There was a problem that color mixing was caused by contact with nearby ink. In other words, if the landed droplet continues to spread without being restricted at the landing position, the image quality is deteriorated.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a curing reaction apparatus and a curing method thereof in which the energy efficiency of ink curing is improved, and the recorded image has high definition and good quality.

  In order to achieve the above object, an embodiment according to the present invention is a curing method in which a light curing type droplet landed on a landing medium is irradiated with a light beam for curing the droplet to cure the droplet. A reaction apparatus, a light source means for irradiating the light beam toward the landing medium, an ultrasonic wave generation means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the landing medium on which the liquid droplets have landed, and the light source Control means for controlling the irradiation in the means and the driving in the ultrasonic wave generation means, respectively, the control means controls the light source means to the droplets landed on the landing medium On the other hand, following the first curing reaction mode, the first curing reaction mode in which the light beam is irradiated to cure the surface layer of the droplet, and the droplet is fixed to the landing medium. When a light beam is irradiated to a droplet To the giving vibration to the object to be landing medium by ultrasonic generating means, to provide a cured reactor having a second curing reaction mode of curing to the interior of the droplet.

  Furthermore, an embodiment according to the present invention is a method of curing a droplet in a curing reaction apparatus that cures a plurality of droplets having different volumes landed on a landing medium, for increasing the viscosity of the surface layer of the droplet A curing reaction step of irradiating electromagnetic waves, and a curing reaction step of irradiating the electromagnetic waves to the droplets while applying ultrasonic vibration to completely cure the inside of the large volume droplets. A droplet curing method is provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the energy efficiency of the hardening of an ink can be improved, and the hardening reaction apparatus with the high definition and favorable printing quality and its hardening method can be provided.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a curing reaction apparatus using ultrasonic vibration according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing main parts of the image recording unit and the curing device. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of the stacked vibrator used in the first embodiment. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are views showing the external configuration of the curing device. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit and its peripheral parts according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a timing chart for explaining the driving of the vibrator and the curing device in the control unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the elapsed time and the curing reaction rate. FIGS. 8A (a) and 8 (b) are diagrams showing the state of the curing reaction mode 1. FIG. FIGS. 8B (a) and 8 (b) are diagrams showing the state of the curing reaction mode 2. FIG. FIG. 9 is a timing chart for explaining the period and frequency. FIG. 10 is an enlarged view showing the state of the landing ink for forming the letter M on the medium by the ink jet technique using the conventional photo-curing type ink. FIG. 11A is an enlarged view showing the state of the landing ink that forms the letter M on the medium, and FIG. 11B is a state where the landing ink is cured by applying ultrasonic vibration according to the embodiment. It is a figure which expands and shows. FIGS. 12A and 12B are diagrams for explaining an example in which image recording is performed in a recording area having a concavo-convex step in a three-dimensional medium. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image recording apparatus including a curing reaction apparatus using an ultrasonic speaker as the second embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the behavior of the pigment contained in the landing ink droplet in the curing reaction device according to the first and second embodiments. FIG. 15 is a timing chart for explaining the driving of the curing device according to the third embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a curing reaction apparatus using ultrasonic waves according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The curing reaction apparatus of this embodiment is applied to an image recording apparatus that records an image by ejecting a photo-curing type ink (hereinafter referred to as a photo-curing ink) that is cured by ultraviolet light.

  The image recording apparatus 1 includes an input unit 2, a control unit 3, a supply unit 4, a conveyance table 5, a conveyance mechanism 6, a sensor 7, an image recording unit 8, a curing device 9, an extraction device 10, and an extraction port 11. . In the following description, a recording medium before image recording is referred to as a medium (landing medium), a medium on which an ink is ejected and an image before fixing the ink is referred to as a landing medium, and an image after fixing is recorded. This medium is called an image recording medium.

  The input unit 2 includes an interface (I / F) unit that receives input (image data, parameters, and the like) from an external device (not shown), and for example, a touch panel, a switch panel, And an input member such as a keyboard. The touch panel is provided on a monitor screen (not shown). The control unit 3 controls the entire apparatus in order to perform processing such as image recording and ink curing with a configuration described later. The control unit 3 may be constituted by, for example, a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer). The supply unit 4 stores a medium 20 for recording an image, and places the medium 20 on the transport table 5 according to an instruction from the control unit 3. The transport table 5 includes a table unit 12 on which a medium is placed, a vibrator 13 to be described later for vibrating the table unit 12, and a fixing unit 14 to the transport mechanism. In addition, as a method of fixing the placed medium 20 to the table unit 12, a fan may be provided inside and adsorbed by negative pressure, or may be adsorbed by electrostatic adsorption. Further, if the medium is a three-dimensional member, a mechanism for holding and fixing with a fixing tool (for example, a claw) may be used.

  The transport mechanism 6 is a belt transport mechanism in which a belt 16 is wound around a plurality of rollers 15, and at least one transport table 5 is provided on the belt 16. In this embodiment, the belt conveyance mechanism is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the structure which connects the conveyance table 5 to a wire, and is towed and moved by a pulley may be sufficient. Or the structure which moves the conveyance table 5 fixed to an arm may be sufficient. In the present embodiment, the transport table 5 is fixed to the belt 16 and moves to rotate in the vertical direction. However, instead of the belt 16, a turntable may be used to rotate in the horizontal direction. In addition, it is also easy to apply a commonly used known transport mechanism.

  The image recording unit 8 is provided with a fixed line type ink jet head (hereinafter referred to as a recording head) 21 for each color. In this embodiment, since four color inks are used, the four recording heads 21 are arranged from the upstream side in the transport direction to black (21K), cyan (21C), magenta (21M), and yellow (21Y). Are arranged in the order of the ink colors. These inks are light curable inks and contain pigments corresponding to the respective ink colors. These recording heads 21 have a recording area (nozzle row length) that is equal to or larger than the width of the medium 20. Further, the present invention is not limited to a one-line head having a medium width, and a plurality of short heads having a medium width less than one are used and alternately arranged in the medium width direction (direction perpendicular to the transport direction: Y direction) (transport direction) (Arranged before and after (X direction)). When a short head is used, it is arranged so that there is an overlap at the end of the recording area. In this embodiment, a fixed type recording head is used, but the present invention can also be applied to a serial type recording head in which the recording head scans and moves in the medium width direction. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the recording head ejects ink droplets in a direction from the top to the bottom (gravity direction), but other recording heads may eject ink droplets in a horizontal direction or an oblique direction. .

  When the medium 20 on the transport table 5 passes below the recording head 21, ink droplets of each color are ejected and an image is formed on the medium 20. The conveyance table 5 is moved in order by the conveyance operation of the conveyance mechanism 6, the supply unit 4, the image recording unit 8, the curing device 9, and the take-out device 10 (take-out port 11). It goes around and returns to the supply unit 4. The sensor 7 is an optical non-contact sensor, detects the transfer table 5 or the landing medium 20 on which an image is formed, and sends a detection signal TRG1 to the control unit 3.

  The curing device 9 fixes the ink by irradiating the landing ink (unfixed image) 18 ejected on the landing medium 20 with ultraviolet light according to the configuration described later. The take-out device 10 separates the image recording medium 20 on which the fixed image has been recorded from the carrying table 5 and carries it to the take-out port 11.

In the image recording apparatus configured as described above, a plurality of media 20 are loaded in the supply unit 4 in advance. The transfer table is located near the supply unit 4 in the initial state.
First, the user transfers image data from an external device to a memory (to be described later) of the control unit 3 via the input unit 2 and sends a recording start command. Based on this command, the medium 20 is removed from the supply unit 4 and placed on the transport table 5. The conveyance table 5 passes from below the image recording unit 8 from the supply unit 4 by the conveyance operation of the conveyance mechanism 6. During this passage, ink droplets of photo-curing ink of four colors (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) are ejected from the recording head 21 and land on the medium 20 to form an image. At this time, an image is formed on the medium 20, but the ink has not yet been cured and is not yet fixed.

  The transport table 5 on which the landing medium 20 landed with ink passes under the sensor 7 by the transport operation of the transport mechanism 6 and reaches the light irradiation position of the curing device 9 and stops. At this time, the sensor 7 detects a detection signal TRG1 indicating the movement timing of the transport table 5. Based on the detection signal TRG1 from the sensor 7, the control unit 3 vibrates the transport table 5 while continuing the irradiation after irradiating the landing ink 18 with ultraviolet light and photocuring the surface layer, as will be described later. Lightly cure while fixing.

  Thereafter, the transport table 5 reaches the take-out device 10. The take-out device 10 has a medium detachment mechanism, and moves the image recording medium 20 on the transport table 5 to the outlet 11. A user can take out the image recording medium 20 from the outlet 11. Thereafter, the transport table 5 moves to the supply unit 4 and returns to the initial state, and the same process is repeated.

Next, the medium, ink, and recording head in this embodiment will be described.
As the medium 20, an article made of a material to be described later can be used in addition to recording paper (glossy paper or the like). In addition, the shape may be a flat surface (flat plate) or a three-dimensional part as long as it has an image forming surface on which ink can land and an image can be formed and can be placed on a transport table. Absent. In this embodiment, for example, an acrylic resin flat plate is taken as an example.

  In the present embodiment, the ink is a cationic photo-curing type ink and contains minute objects such as pigments. For example, as the pigment, C.I. I. Pigment Blue, C.I. I. Pigment Red, C.I. I. Pigment Yellow, C.I. I. Pigment Black, titanium oxide can be used. The ink is previously filled in a main tank (not shown) and supplied to each recording head 21. The recording head 21 in the present embodiment is a specification corresponding to photo-curing ink, and can perform monochrome and color recording (printing) of 8 gradations.

Next, the conveyance table 5 will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is a diagram conceptually showing main parts of the image recording unit and the curing device. A vibrator 13 is attached below the table portion 12 of the transport table 5. The vibrator 13 is a laminated piezoelectric element made of, for example, zirconia ceramics as shown in FIG. This piezoelectric element has a general structure in which a plurality of piezoelectric pieces 61 are laminated, a protective member 62 is disposed on the uppermost lowermost surface, and an electrode 63 is stretched on the side surface. The vibrator 13 generates ultrasonic vibration with a predetermined frequency corresponding to the transport position of the transport table 5 and transmits the ultrasonic vibration to the landing ink 18 and the pigment through the table unit 12 and the landing medium 20.

  The conveyance table 5 adsorbs and fixes the landing medium 20 to the table surface 12 a with negative pressure by air, conveys the landing medium 20, and transmits ultrasonic vibrations to the landing medium 20 and the landing ink 18.

  When a plurality of table mechanisms 5 are arranged on the belt, the vibration of the table mechanism 5 performing the curing process is propagated to other table mechanisms 5 through the belt. It is necessary to install a seismic isolation mechanism between The seismic isolation mechanism may be a simple elastic member such as rubber. Alternatively, the conveyance mechanism may be divided, that is, the recording head side and the curing device 9 side may be divided, and a delivery mechanism may be provided to connect the conveyance paths. In this case, it is not necessary to provide a table mechanism on the recording head side by devising the delivery mechanism.

  As the vibrator 13, specifically, the ultrasonic vibrator described in Patent Documents 2 and 3 proposed by the same applicant as the present invention or an equivalent product can be applied. In other words, the multilayer piezoelectric element is sandwiched by applying a compressive stress, and the damage and the like are improved by always setting the internal stress to “positive”. By applying a pulse voltage of about 10 Vp-p or less to the vibrator 13, desired vibrations can be excited on the landing surface of the landing medium 20 and the table surface 13a. Specifically, the oscillation direction with respect to the table unit 12 can be adjusted, and the amplitude, frequency, and phase of mechanical vibration on the table surface 12a can be adjusted.

  In the present embodiment, a linear vibration mode is excited with respect to the table surface 13 a and the landing medium 20 using an ultrasonic transducer equivalent to that of Patent Document 1. The drive voltage is a drive pulse having a frequency ν1. In Patent Document 1, ν1 = 83 kHz is specified, but in the present embodiment, it can be adjusted to a desired value by specifying in the range of 10 kHz to 100 kHz.

Next, the curing device 9 will be described in detail.
4 (a) and 4 (b) are views showing the external configuration of the curing device. As shown in FIG. 4A, the curing device 9 includes a light shielding plate (exterior member) 31, a mounting substrate 32, and a heat radiating part 33 as main parts. A light emitting element 34 (hereinafter referred to as an LED element) composed of a plurality of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that generate ultraviolet light is mounted on the mounting substrate 32. The light shielding plate 31 is for shielding light from the LED element 34. A screw hole for position adjustment (not shown) is provided, and is attached to the downstream side of the image recording unit 8. The heat dissipating part 33 includes a fin for cooling formed of a metal having high heat conductivity, for example, aluminum, and releases heat generated by the LED element 34 to the atmosphere. Further, an optical system may be provided in front of the light emitting surface of the LED element 34 to make the amount of irradiated light uniform within the irradiation surface.

  FIG. 4B shows the front configuration of the curing device 9. The LED element 34 is, for example, NCSU033A (manufactured by Nichia Corporation) or its equivalent, and generates a light output of about 250 mW when a steady voltage of about 3 V is applied. The light output is ultraviolet light having a peak wavelength of 365 nm, but partially includes visible light. In this embodiment, the terms “light” and “Light” widely refer to electromagnetic waves in general, and include not only visible light but also ultraviolet light (UV light), infrared light (IR light), and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, a total of six LED elements are arranged on the mounting substrate 32 at a density of about 1 cm 2. Therefore, when the LED element 34 is driven steadily, a radiation intensity of approximately E2 = 200 mW / cm 2 can be obtained. Accordingly, a radiation intensity equivalent to or higher than the lamp-type curing device described above can be obtained. Furthermore, the irradiation area of the curing device 9 is about S2 = about 10 mm × 60 mm when the distance from the LED element 34 is about 10 mm. That is, by moving the transport table 5 within the irradiation area of the curing device 9, the ink that has landed on the image recording area (printing width) of the recording head described above can be cured.

Next, the control unit 3 will be described in detail.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the control unit 3 and its peripheral parts according to the present embodiment.
The control unit 3 includes a power supply circuit 41, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 42, a clock unit 43, a volatile memory (RAM, etc.) 44, a non-volatile memory (ROM, flash memory, etc.) 45, a drive unit 46, and amplifier circuits 47, 48. Consists of.
The power supply circuit 41 converts a power supply voltage supplied from the outside (not shown) into a voltage value suitable for each component and supplies the converted voltage value. The clock unit 43 generates a clock signal CLK1 that serves as a reference for an output signal such as a drive pulse.

 After the power is turned on, the CPU 42 reads a program written in the nonvolatile memory 45 and reads / writes data from / to the volatile memory 44 to execute a predetermined process. Further, when receiving the image data / image recording command (printing command) from the input unit 2, the CPU 42 controls an ink supply system (not shown), the transport mechanism 10 shown in FIG. 1, the image recording unit 8, the drive circuit 46, and the like. The image recording process is executed. Further, the CPU 42 transmits a drive start signal SRT1 to the drive circuit 46 based on a signal such as an image recording command input from the input unit 2. In addition, the setting value of the register 51 in the drive circuit 46 is rewritten.

  The drive circuit 46 includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and includes a register 51, a gain switching circuit 52, a curing pulse generation circuit 53, a vibration pulse generation circuit 54, and the like in hardware. Or software. The register 51 is set with a drive pulse delay value D1, duty values D21 and D22, an amplification value, and the like, and the value can be changed by a signal from the CPU.

  The signal TRG1 output from the sensor 7 is taken into the drive circuit 46 in the control unit 3. The curing pulse generation circuit 53 generates a drive pulse signal OUT1 for driving the curing device (LED element) based on the signal CLK1 from the clock unit 43 and the signal TRG1 from the sensor 7. Based on the signal CLK1 from the clock unit 43 and the signal TRG1 from the sensor 7, the vibration pulse generation circuit 54 generates a drive pulse signal OUT2 for driving the vibrator (laminated piezoelectric element).

  The gain switching circuit 52 outputs gain signals GIN1 and GIN2 to the amplifier circuit 47 and the amplifier circuit 48 according to the set value in the register 51 of the drive circuit 46. By the gain signals GIN1 and GIN2, the amplification factors of the amplifier circuit 47 and the amplifier circuit 48 are rewritten, and the output (amplitude) strength of the curing device 9 and the vibrator 13 is switched. In the present embodiment, the gain signals GIN1 and GIN2 take steady values. The amplification factors of the amplifier circuits 47 and 48 are switched by rewriting the set value in the register 51 from the CPU 42.

  The drive pulse signal OUT1 and the drive pulse signal OUT2 are taken into the amplifier circuit 47 and the amplifier circuit 48. The amplifier circuit 47 and the amplifier circuit 48 amplify and output the drive pulse signal OUT1 and the drive pulse signal OUT2 based on the gain signals GIN1 and GIN2.

  The output voltages of the amplifier circuit 47 and the amplifier circuit 48 are adjusted in advance so that the curing device 9 and the vibrator 13 function properly.

  Next, driving of the vibrator 13 and the curing device 9 in the control unit 3 will be described with reference to a timing chart shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the horizontal axis indicates time, and the vertical axis indicates each signal line. Here, each signal line takes a binary voltage value. Hereinafter, the level of the binary voltage value is indicated as a high (H: HIGH) level and a low (L: LOW) level.

  The clock unit 43 in the control unit 3 generates a clock signal CLK1. When the transport table 5 is vibrated, the start signal SRT1 becomes H level, and the following drive pulse OUT1 for driving the curing device 9, OUT2 for driving the vibrator 13, and the like are H level and L. Switching between levels is possible.

  When the transport table 5 passes in the vicinity of the sensor 7, the trigger signal TRG1 becomes H level. Based on the trigger signal TRG1, the curing pulse generation circuit 53 generates a driving pulse OUT1 for the curing device. Further, after the delay value D1 has elapsed, the vibration pulse generation circuit 54 generates a drive pulse OUT2 for the vibrator. Further, the moving speed of the transport table 5 is adjusted corresponding to the position of the sensor 7 so that the curing time is appropriately secured. By this adjustment, the movement of the conveyance table 5 stops at a position where the conveyance table 5 (landing medium 20) faces the LED element 34. After the curing process is completed, the transfer table 5 starts to move again.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the voltage value of the drive pulse signal OUT <b> 1 is appropriately adjusted by the amplifier circuit 47 and is applied to the curing device 9. That is, it is adjusted so that the drive voltage of the LED element 34 of the curing device 9 can be switched within a range of about 3V or less. Similarly, the drive pulse signal OUT2 is applied to the vibrator 13 after the voltage value is appropriately adjusted by the amplifier circuit 48. That is, it is adjusted so that the voltage can be switched in a range of about 10 Vp-p or less applied to the vibrator 13.

  The start signal SRT1 becomes the L level after a predetermined period from the H level. This period is set in advance from the period until the conveyance table 5 passes through the image recording and curing regions and the curing is completed. For example, when the image recording time is about 1 second and the curing time is about 20 seconds, the period is set to 25 seconds.

  When the start signal SRT1 changes from the H level to the L level, the drive pulse OUT1 and the drive pulse OUT2 are always at the L level, and the operations of the curing device 9 and the vibrator 13 are stopped. When the start signal SRT1 = L level, the state of OUT2 = L level and OUT2 = L level is shown in FIG. 9 for explaining the behavior of signals to be described later. Therefore, ultraviolet light is generated only when the start signal SRT1 is normally input at the H level, and safety is ensured.

  After the landed ink is cured and the image is fixed, the take-out device 10 moves the image recording medium 20 on the transport table 5 to the outlet 11 and discharges it. Thereafter, the transport table 5 moves to the supply unit 4 and returns to the initial state, and the same process is repeated.

A plurality of curing reaction modes, which are features of the present embodiment, will be described.
The present embodiment has a plurality of curing reaction modes. Here, as shown in FIG. 6, there are two modes, a surface layer curing mode (curing reaction mode 1) and a deep portion curing mode (curing reaction mode 2).

  In the curing reaction mode 1, the curing device 9 is driven (OUT1 = H level), while the vibrator 13 is stopped (OUT1 = L level). Further, in the curing reaction mode 2, the curing apparatus is in a driven state (OUT1 = H level) and is in a state of being vibrated by applying a pulse voltage to the vibrator 13 (OUT2 = H level).

  The curing reaction in the present embodiment is a photopolymerization reaction using ultraviolet light as active light, but switches the active state of the polymerization reaction by switching light intensity and vibration state.

The driving method will be described with reference to the relationship between the elapsed time and the curing reaction speed shown in FIG.
In general, when the amount of light irradiation is constant, the reaction rate of photopolymerization gradually decreases with time. That is, when an electromagnetic wave is irradiated to a liquid that causes a curing reaction such as photopolymerization, a concentration difference of a photopolymerization initiator or the like in the liquid occurs as the reaction proceeds. Furthermore, as described above, even if the ultraviolet light is uniformly irradiated from the outside, a shadow due to a pigment or the like is generated due to a situation inside the landing ink 18 and becomes non-uniform. Therefore, if the irradiation with ultraviolet light is continued, a portion where the concentration becomes non-uniform remains and the reaction rate is reduced. The curing time T0 described above is a value including such a reduction in reaction.

  However, since the irradiation energy of the ultraviolet light irradiated during the curing time T0 is constant, the reduction in the reaction rate means that the curing efficiency is lowered. Therefore, what is cut off in a state where the curing reaction is fast from the start of curing corresponds to the curing reaction mode 1 shown in FIG.

  In the curing reaction mode 2, the operation of ultrasonic vibration in the vibrator 13 of the transport table 5 is started, the landing medium 20 is swung to make the density difference of the landing ink 18 uniform, and a shadow such as a pigment is generated. Move the substance. At this time, the vibration operation is preferably driven so as to gradually increase the amplitude of the ultrasonic vibration from the start. This is because the landing ink 18 only has a hardened surface layer and flows inside, so that the vibration load on the landing ink 18 at the start is reduced. As a result, the reaction rate is restored as indicated by the dotted line a shown in FIG. 7, and the curing time is shortened as a whole (curing reaction mode 2).

The curing reaction mode shown in FIG. 7 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 8A (a) and (b) and FIGS. 8B (a) and (b). Here, FIG. 8A (a), (b) is a figure which shows the state about hardening reaction mode 1. FIG. FIGS. 8B (a) and 8 (b) are diagrams showing the state of the curing reaction mode 2. FIG.
The curing reaction mode 1 is a non-vibrating state (vibration mode 1) in which the landing ink 18 is irradiated with a certain amount of ultraviolet light (irradiation mode 1), and the vibrator 13 of the transport table 5 is not oscillated. Further, in the curing reaction mode 2, similarly to the curing reaction mode 1, the landing ink 18 was irradiated with a certain amount of ultraviolet light (irradiation mode 1), and the landing was performed by operating the vibrator 13 of the transport table 5. The ink is vibrated (vibration mode 2).

  As described above, when the landing ink 18 is cured, the surface layer of the droplet is easily cured. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8A (b), in the curing reaction mode 1, the landing ink 18 is irradiated with ultraviolet light, and the landing ink 18a due to the ink surface layer and ink droplets having a small volume (number of drops) is cured. The However, in the landing ink 18 with ink droplets having a relatively large volume, a deep portion that is shaded by a pigment or the like remains as an uncured region. Thereafter, the curing reaction mode 1 is switched to the curing reaction mode 2 at the timing t1 shown in FIGS.

  In the curing reaction mode 2, the vibrator 13 that has been stopped starts a vibration operation, and the ink droplet 18 is vibrated. Due to this vibration, as shown in FIG. 8B (a), the uncured region in the ink droplet is vibrated, and the pigment therein oscillates and moves. Further, since the surface layer of the cured ink droplet also vibrates, the shadow by the pigment moves, and the irradiation light reaches the uncured portion. Thereby, since a photopolymerization reaction is accelerated | stimulated, complete hardening is promoted. Since small droplets are cured in the surface layer curing mode of FIG. 8A (b), they are not affected by vibration and do not lose the high definition of image recording.

Next, the number of vibrations in the vibrator will be described.
FIG. 9 is a timing chart for explaining the period and frequency. As shown in the figure, the periods of the drive pulses OUT1 and OUT2 are T1 and T2, respectively. The reciprocals of the periods T1 and T2 are defined as frequencies ν1 (= 1 / T1) and ν2 (= 1 / T2). Further, the ratio of the driving pulses OUT1, OUT2 that is at the H level is defined as the duty values D21, D22.

  For example, when the frequency of the vibrator 13 is adjusted to ν1 = 50 kHz, the cycle T1 = 1 / ν1 = 20 μs. Depending on the selection of the type of photocurable ink to be used, for example, when the photocuring time T0 is about T0 = 10 s, the number of vibrations is T0 / T1 = 10 s / 20 μs = 500,000 times. In addition, when the curing time T0 = 100 ms, the number of vibrations is 5000 times.

  Further, for example, in the curing reaction mode 1 and the curing reaction mode 2 in FIG. 6, the period T1 of the drive pulse OUT1 = ∞ (maximum value that can be set) and the duty value D21 = 100%. In the drive pulse OUT2, the duty value D22 = 0% (always L) in the curing reaction mode 1, and the duty value D22 = 50% in the curing reaction mode 2. The delay value D1, including these values, the periods T1 and T2, and the duty values D21 and D22 can be appropriately set and changed from an external computer.

  As shown in FIG. 6, for currently curable photo-curing ink, when performing pulse driving (OUT2), if the frequency of the vibrator 13 is set to an ultrasonic region of about 10 kHz or more, the curing time can be reduced. Since the sufficient number of vibrations can be secured, the fixing property can be improved. In particular, when the frequency ν1 is set to 40 kHz or more, a sufficient number of vibrations are given, which is more desirable. In order to realize high-speed recording, the value of the frequency ν1 may be further increased according to the conveyance speed.

Next, the improvement in the quality of the recorded image will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11A and 11B.
FIG. 10 shows an enlarged state of the landing ink 18 that forms the letter M on the medium by an inkjet technique using a conventional photo-curing type ink. FIG. 11A shows an enlarged state of the landing ink 18 that forms the letter M on the medium. FIG. 11B is an enlarged view showing a state where the landing ink 18 is cured by applying ultrasonic vibration according to the present invention.

  As described above, when the ink does not permeate or is difficult to permeate, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11A, a concave portion called a void may occur. This void has relatively small irregularities with respect to the landing surface and volume of the droplet. If such a void exists, for example, in a case where a high-density bar code is printed in a small area, problems such as misreading occur. In the conventional technique, when curing is performed with ultraviolet light, as shown in FIG. 10, fixing is performed with the void remaining.

  In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11B, when the surface layer is cured and then cured in a state where ultrasonic vibration is applied, the vibration (frequency and vibration width) at the time of curing is adjusted. Thus, voids and fine irregularities can be improved. The reproducibility of a straight line or a curve can be improved with respect to the unevenness generated on the edge of the character or the pattern formed on the landing ink 18. That is, when there are relatively small irregularities with respect to the volume of the droplet at the time of landing, only the lower surface layer of the droplet is cured and the droplet flows inside, so that the surface layer portion that is thinly cured The uneven shape of the is pressed and becomes gentle.

  Accordingly, the unevenness that is smaller than the dot diameter of the landing ink 18 is high-frequency noise that exceeds the resolution guaranteed by the recording head. Therefore, by performing smoothing by ultrasonic vibration, unnecessary noise on the image can be improved. The degree of smoothing can be adjusted by changing the voltage applied to the multilayer piezoelectric element and the duty ratio of the drive pulse.

By the above-described method, the surface of the landing ink 18 is cured by the curing reaction mode 1 to prevent spreading from landing and to secure a landing surface corresponding to the volume of the droplet. Further, the curing reaction mode 2 can reduce fine print noise caused by factors other than the volume of the droplets. Furthermore, with respect to a relatively large volume droplet, it is possible to promote curing by causing the inside to flow by swinging, thereby making the concentration uniform and moving the shadow area. Further, for example, in FIG. 11B, if the landed area spreads by 5%, the irradiated area is increased by 5%, so that the curing time can be further reduced.
Next, the shape of a medium on which an image can be recorded according to this embodiment will be described.
FIGS. 12A and 12B illustrate an example in which image recording is performed on a recording area having a concavo-convex step in the three-dimensional medium 20.
The photocurable ink is ejected from the recording head to the step portion of the recording area of the medium 20. In this ejection, as shown in FIG. 12A, the lower spherical surface portion of the ink droplet may land in a state where a gap is formed between the corners of the step.

  In such a case, first, the surface layer of the ink droplet is cured in the curing reaction mode 1 to be roughly fixed at the landing position. This fixing prevents the ink droplet from spreading or moving. Next, as shown in FIG. 12B, the ink droplets to which the ultrasonic vibration is applied in the curing reaction mode 2 fills the gap at the corner of the step because the ink in the gap is not cured. spread. However, this spread is limited by the curing reaction mode 1 because the surface layer is cured, and the landing position of the ink droplet does not spread greatly.

Therefore, the ink droplets are reliably fixed at the landing position and spread is prevented. As a result, it is possible to increase the curing efficiency and the elasticity of elasticity while maintaining the high definition of image recording.
Furthermore, according to the present embodiment, the pigment can be mechanically vibrated until the ink is completely cured. Thereby, the internal stress in the ink which arises with shrinkage | contraction of hardening can be relieved. Therefore, the occurrence of curling can be reduced or prevented when the medium is a sheet. In addition, since the spread of the ink can be suppressed, image recording can be easily realized on media having various shapes without losing the high definition of the image.

Next, a second embodiment will be described.
FIG. 13 shows a configuration example of an image recording apparatus provided with a curing reaction apparatus using an ultrasonic speaker as a second embodiment.
The second embodiment is an example in which the vibration of the ultrasonic piezoelectric element is transmitted to the pigment ink in a contact type in the first embodiment described above, but here, it is equivalent to the contact type vibrator instead of the contact type vibrator. In this configuration, vibration is transmitted to the landing ink 18 by vibration of air using an ultrasonic speaker having a function. The other constituent parts are substantially the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same reference numerals are assigned and the description thereof is omitted.

  In the present embodiment, ultrasonic waves are emitted from the ultrasonic speaker 51 while the ink landed from the ultraviolet light irradiated from the curing device 9 is being cured. That is, first, in the curing reaction mode 1, the landed ink droplets are irradiated with ultraviolet light, and the surface layer of the ink droplets is cured to be substantially fixed at the landing position. This fixing prevents subsequent ink droplet spreading and movement. After that, the mode shifts to the curing reaction mode 2 and in the state where the irradiation of ultraviolet light is maintained, an ultrasonic wave is applied from the ultrasonic speaker 51 to vibrate the ink droplet and cure to the inside of the ink droplet.

  In the present embodiment, the table mechanism can be simplified compared to the configuration using the vibrator. In this example, since the table mechanism 5 is not an essential requirement, the ultrasonic speaker 51 applies ultrasonic waves to the landing medium 20 that is directly sucked and held on the belt 16 and conveyed. It may be.

  Also in this embodiment, when a plurality of table mechanisms 5 are arranged on the belt, it is necessary to provide a seismic isolation mechanism between the table mechanism (table portion) and the belt. The seismic isolation mechanism may be a simple elastic member such as rubber. Alternatively, the conveyance mechanism may be divided, that is, the recording head side and the curing device 9 side may be divided, and a delivery mechanism may be provided to connect the conveyance paths.

  If the present embodiment does not include the table mechanism 5, when using a method in which a plurality of media and the landing medium 20 are simultaneously sucked and held on the belt 16, the transport mechanism is connected to the recording head side and the curing device. What is necessary is just to divide | segment 9 side and to connect with a delivery mechanism.

  As described above, also in this embodiment, it is possible to obtain the same operational effects as those of the first embodiment described above. Further, by transmitting the vibration to the landing ink 18 by the vibration of the air from the ultrasonic speaker, the structure of the table mechanism is simplified, and the same effect can be obtained without providing a complicated mechanism.

Next, the behavior of the pigment contained in the landed ink droplet will be described.
With reference to FIG. 14, the behavior of the pigment contained in the landing ink droplets in the curing reaction apparatuses according to the first and second embodiments will be described.
In general, the specific gravity of the pigment is several times larger than the specific gravity of the solvent. For example, in the case of the above-described titanium oxide, it is “around 4”. The specific gravity of the liquid portion of the ink droplet may be regarded as around 1, and is a viscoelastic substance.

  When ink droplets are cured by photocuring, the viscosity coefficient usually increases. As shown in FIG. 14, when ultrasonic vibration is applied from the outside, the specific gravity of the pigment is large, so that the displacement of the pigment increases with respect to the solvent (liquid). A phase delay occurs in the vibration of the pigment with respect to the vibration of the landing medium. The phase lag is large in the uncured part and small in the completely cured part. Regarding the amplitude and displacement of the pigment, the movement is relatively large in the uncured portion, and the movement of the pigment is small with respect to the landing medium in the completely cured portion.

  Accordingly, when ultrasonic vibration is applied after the surface layer starts to be cured, the landing ink droplets are shaken, and the uncured or partially cured ink can be moved inside the film-shaped surface layer. The inside of the ink droplet has a shadowed part of the pigment, but the pigment does not remain, so part of the irradiation light can reach the inside, and the ink droplet is irradiated with UV light relatively uniformly. Can be made.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.
In the present embodiment, a curing reaction apparatus that further improves the irradiation energy efficiency of curing using the above-described phase delay will be described. In the present embodiment, the efficiency of irradiation energy is further improved by changing the power source applied to the LED element 34 of the curing device 9 to a pulse waveform. The configuration of the present embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, and the same reference numerals are used to omit the description of the configuration.

The drive of the curing device 9 will be described with reference to the timing chart shown in FIG.
At the start of curing t0, the landed ink is irradiated with ultraviolet light for a certain period in the curing reaction mode 1 in which the drive pulse OUT1 = H level and the drive pulse OUT2 = L level, and the landed ink reaches t1 at the elapsed time. The surface layer of is cured. By this curing process, the surface layer of the landing ink 18 is first cured to increase the viscosity toward the inside of the landing ink 18, and the landing ink 18 is fixed to the landing medium 20, so that the subsequent ink is not spread too much. Preventing and ensuring high definition of image recording.

  Then, the phase shifts to the curing reaction mode 2 and the phase delay (delay value D1) is generated in the state where the irradiation of the ultraviolet light is maintained, and then the ultrasonic vibration is started. As a result, fine vibration is applied to the inside of the landing ink 18 that has not been exposed to ultraviolet light, thereby promoting photocuring. At this time, the drive power source of the LED element 34 of the curing device 9 is switched from direct current to pulse wave (rectangular wave) and driven.

  The delay value D1 shown in FIG. 15 is the maximum volume or the number of drops of ink droplets that are different from the number of ink droplets (drop number) ejected from the recording head (multi-drop head). For example, it is set in advance based on the degree of curing of the ink drop for 7 drops. That is, the volume of a droplet (ink droplet) that is hard to cure is experimentally known. For example, when the volume of the droplet is relatively large (6 to 7 drop), the inside tends to be hard to be cured.

  Therefore, the intensity of the pulse-driven irradiation light is adjusted in accordance with the phase lag and displacement of the pigment portion with respect to the ink droplet having the volume that is most difficult to cure. In other words, in the deep cure mode, it has already been found that the uncured part is a shadowed part and the energy efficiency used to cure the interior is poor. Therefore, the irradiation power is lowered during a period (timing, phase) in which the displacement of the pigment with respect to the position of the landed ink droplet is near zero (initial state). On the other hand, the irradiation power is increased in a period (phase) in which the displacement of the pigment is maximum with respect to the position of the ink droplet.

  Thereby, it is possible to reduce the necessary irradiation energy while promoting curing by the pulse-driven irradiation light. The phase delay amount D1 cannot be determined in terms of design because there are uncertain factors such as delay in vibration transmission, but can be determined experimentally or empirically. In other words, since the positional relationship is specified when the specifications of the ink droplet volume and the conveyance table are determined, adjusting the delay value D1 along the hardware of the device or the like results in energy efficiency. It becomes possible to optimize.

By driving the curing device 9 in a pulsed manner, while increasing the maximum value (peak value) of the irradiation power, the temperature rise of the LED element is reduced and the power consumption is improved. Further, loss such as reduction in light output of the LED element accompanying temperature rise can be improved.
Further, as the curing reaction proceeds, the ultrasonic vibration can be gradually strengthened by switching the amplitude (GIN1) of the ultrasonic vibration and the duty value in several stages. Usually, the photocuring reaction proceeds most rapidly immediately after irradiation. However, the reaction rate gradually decreases as the irradiation time increases. Therefore, photocuring can be promoted by increasing the intensity of ultrasonic vibration as the curing proceeds and moving the uncured portion greatly.

  As described above, in the landing ink 18, sufficient ultraviolet light does not reach the portion that is shaded by the pigment and the deep portion of the ink layer, and is difficult to be photocured. However, according to the present embodiment, the displacement of the region where the pigment is present can be greatly changed in the uncured portion in the deep portion of the ink layer. Thereby, the inside of an ink drop can be stirred. Then, the state of light irradiation can be made uniform, and the photocuring reaction can be promoted.

  Furthermore, the pulse voltage applied to the curing device 9 shown in FIG. 15 may be higher than the rated voltage during continuous driving. Therefore, the drive voltage, that is, the light intensity can be increased by adjusting the delay value and the duty value so that the curing reaction near the pigment is promoted.

This switching of the voltage value is performed by changing the gain value GIN1 and the gain value GIN2, and the curing efficiency can be further increased. That is, as shown in FIG. 14, when the irradiation light is increased (increased or decreased) at the timing when the pigment in the uncured portion moves the most as compared with the normal continuous irradiation, the curing is performed even if the irradiation energy is equal. The reaction can be promoted and energy efficiency can be improved.
Such adjustment can be optimized experimentally by repeatedly printing on an actual landing medium and evaluating the degree of curing while changing parameters such as the duty value of the drive pulse and the phase delay D1.

Next, the landing medium used in each embodiment described above will be described.
The medium 20 described above has been described as an example of an acrylic resin, but is not limited thereto. Of course, paper such as coated paper and plain paper can be used. Furthermore, as a medium, a medium made of polycarbonate, acrylic resin, ABS, polyacetal, rubber or the like can be used. Moreover, films, such as a PET film and a TAC film, can also be used. Furthermore, a medium using metal, glass, ceramics, resin, wood, and cardboard as materials may be used.

  Further, the medium 20 does not necessarily have to be a flat or flat member as in the example shown in FIG. The shape is not particularly limited as long as it can be placed (fixed) on the transport mechanism 6 or the transport table 5. Information can also be recorded on the surface of various parts such as resin parts made in three dimensions by injection molding, for example, containers such as plastic bottles, or exterior members.

  Further, as in a three-dimensional printer, it may be used for forming a three-dimensional shape by landing an adhesive on a powder or the like from a recording head and curing it, and then removing the powder. Furthermore, any material may be used as long as the liquid droplets are landed on an arbitrary surface and cured. It may be used for bonding or the like.

  In each of the embodiments described above, an example of an image recording apparatus equipped with a recording head using photocurable ink has been described, but the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto. In addition, use for color filter manufacturing equipment, three-dimensional shape forming equipment, printing machines, dispensing equipment, precision medical equipment, curing equipment, adhesive equipment, coating film forming equipment, rapid model forming equipment, production equipment, etc. Can do. In addition, a mobile order ink jet printer and a barcode reader can be combined to form an ordering / ordering system for use outdoors or in an airplane. Since fixability and the like are improved, a character recognition system may be configured as an OCR (Optical Character Reader) device.

   Furthermore, in each embodiment, although the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave which the hardening apparatus 9 outputs was 365 nm, it is not necessarily limited to this. In addition, an ultraviolet region of 200 nm to 400 nm can be used.

  Further, as described above, the electromagnetic wave output from the curing device 9 can be favorably used even when the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave is in a region where the straightness is strong. For example, it is effective when the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave to be irradiated is in the range of ultraviolet light, visible light, and infrared light. In other words, it can be used in a region where the wavelength λ1> 1 μm, but it can be favorably used even in a region of ultraviolet light / visible light / infrared light where the wavelength λ1 ≦ 1 μm. In particular, use in the visible light / ultraviolet light region where the wavelength λ1 <800 nm is preferable because it can be used for commercially available ultraviolet curable printing (image recording) and medium adhesion.

Each embodiment described above includes the gist of the following invention.
(1) A curing reaction device that cures the photocuring type droplet by irradiating the photocuring type droplet landed on the landing medium with an electromagnetic wave for curing the droplet,
Light source means for irradiating the electromagnetic wave toward the landing medium;
Ultrasonic generation means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the landing medium on which the liquid droplets have landed;
Control means for controlling the driving of the light source and the ultrasonic wave generation means;
The control means includes
A first curing reaction mode in which an electromagnetic wave is irradiated to the droplet landed on the landing medium to cure the surface of the droplet and fix the droplet on the landing medium;
Following the first curing reaction mode, the droplets landed on the landing medium are irradiated with electromagnetic waves, and vibrations are applied to the landing medium by an ultrasonic wave generating means, whereby the landing medium A second curing reaction mode that cures to the inside of the droplet above,
A curing reaction apparatus characterized by comprising:

(2) In the item (1), the control means has a maximum value of the power of the electromagnetic wave from the light source in the second curing reaction mode, rather than the maximum value of the power of the electromagnetic wave from the light source in the first curing reaction mode. A curing reaction apparatus characterized in that the value is controlled to increase.
(3) In the item (2), the light source is an LED that emits ultraviolet light, and the control means drives the LED to intermittently emit electromagnetic waves in the second curing reaction mode. A curing reaction apparatus characterized by the above.

(4) The ultrasonic curing reaction apparatus according to (1), wherein the control means drives the ultrasonic wave generation means so as to apply a vibration of 10 kHz or more to the landing medium.
(5) In the item (4), the control means drives the ultrasonic wave generation means so as to gradually increase the amplitude of the ultrasonic vibration in the second hardening conveyance mode. Reactor.

(6) The droplets are a plurality of droplets having different liquid volumes due to multidrop,
The ultrasonic curing reaction apparatus characterized in that the time of the first curing reaction mode is set to a time for curing the surface of a droplet having a larger liquid volume.
(7) A method of curing droplets having different volumes on a landing medium,
a. A curing reaction step of irradiating an electromagnetic wave to increase the viscosity of the surface layer of the droplet;
b. A curing reaction step of irradiating electromagnetic waves while applying ultrasonic vibration for completely curing the inside of a relatively large volume droplet.

(8) Conveying means for supporting the landed medium and conveying it along the conveying direction;
A recording head which is provided opposite to the conveying means and discharges a photocurable liquid droplet (UV ink) toward a landing medium conveyed by the conveying means to form an image on the landing medium;
Light source means that is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction from the recording head and that irradiates electromagnetic waves toward the landing medium;
Ultrasonic generation means (vibrator) for applying ultrasonic vibration to the landing medium on which the liquid droplets have landed;
Control means (control unit) for controlling the driving of each means;
The control means includes
A first curing reaction mode in which an electromagnetic wave is radiated from the light source to the droplets landed on a landing medium;
Second curing, which is performed following the first curing reaction mode, irradiates the droplets landed on the same landing medium with electromagnetic waves, and applies vibrations to the landing medium by ultrasonic generation means. And a reaction mode.

  The present invention relates to a technique for landing a liquid on a solid and a technique for curing an electromagnetic wave curing type liquid that has landed on a medium. Specifically, the invention relates to an inkjet printer, a color filter manufacturing apparatus, and a three-dimensional shape forming apparatus. It is a curing reaction system that can be mounted on a printing machine, a dispensing device, a precision medical device, a curing device, an adhesive device, a coating film forming device, a production device, and the like.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image recording apparatus, 2 ... Input part, 3 ... Control part, 4 ... Supply part, 5 ... Conveyance table, 6 ... Conveyance mechanism, 7 ... Sensor, 8 ... Image recording part, 9 ... Curing apparatus, 10 ... Extraction apparatus , 11 ... take-out port, 12 ... table portion, 13 ... vibrator, 14 ... fixed portion, 15 ... roller, 16 ... belt, 17 ... ink droplet, 18 ... landing ink, 20 ... medium, 21 ... recording head, 41 ... Power circuit 42 ... CPU 43 ... Clock unit 44 ... Volatile memory 45 ... Non-volatile memory 46 ... Drive unit 47,48 ... Amplifier circuit 51 ... Register 52 ... Gain switching circuit 53 ... Curing pulse generation circuit 54 ... Vibration pulse generation circuit.

Claims (8)

A curing reaction device that cures a droplet by irradiating a light-curing type droplet landed on a landing medium with a light beam for curing the droplet,
Light source means for irradiating the light beam toward the landing medium;
Ultrasonic generation means for applying ultrasonic vibration to the landing medium on which the liquid droplets have landed;
Control means for controlling the irradiation in the light source means and the driving in the ultrasonic wave generation means, respectively,
The control means includes
The light source means is controlled to irradiate the droplets landing on the landed medium with the light beam to cure the surface layer of the liquid droplets, thereby fixing the droplets on the landed medium. A first curing reaction mode;
Continuing from the first curing reaction mode, irradiation of light to the droplet is continued, and vibration is applied to the landing medium by the ultrasonic wave generation unit to cure the droplet to the inside. Curing reaction mode of
A curing reaction apparatus characterized by comprising: The control means includes
The maximum value of the light power from the light source means in the second curing reaction mode is larger than the maximum value of the light power from the light source means in the first curing reaction mode. The curing reaction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the curing reaction apparatus is controlled. The light source means is a light emitting element that emits ultraviolet light,
3. The curing reaction apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit drives the light emitting element to intermittently emit the light beam in the second curing reaction mode.   The curing reaction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means drives the ultrasonic wave generation means so as to apply vibration of 10 kHz or more to the landing medium.   The said control means drives the said ultrasonic generation means so that the amplitude of an ultrasonic vibration may be gradually enlarged from the time of a vibration start at the time of the said 2nd hardening reaction mode. Curing reactor.   When the droplets are a plurality of droplets having different liquid volumes due to multidrop, the surface of the droplet having a larger liquid volume is cured during the irradiation time of the light beam in the first curing reaction mode. The ultrasonic curing reaction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic curing reaction apparatus is set to a time required for the operation. A method of curing droplets in a curing reaction apparatus that cures a plurality of droplets having different volumes landed on a landing medium,
A curing reaction step of irradiating an electromagnetic wave to increase the viscosity of the surface layer of the droplet;
A curing reaction step of irradiating the electromagnetic waves to the droplets while applying ultrasonic vibration to completely cure the inside of the large volume droplets;
A droplet curing method for a curing reaction apparatus comprising: A method of curing a droplet in a curing reaction apparatus that irradiates a light-curing type droplet landed on a landing medium with light to cure the droplet,
A first curing reaction mode in which the droplet landing on the landing medium is irradiated with the light to cure only the surface layer of the droplet, thereby fixing the droplet on the landing medium. When,
Subsequent to the first curing reaction mode, while continuing to irradiate the droplet with the light beam, the landing medium is vibrated to flow in an uncured region in the droplet, A second curing reaction mode in which a light shielding material in an uncured region that shields light rays is moved and cured to the inside of the droplet;
A droplet curing method for a curing reaction apparatus, comprising:

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